The present invention relates to operator mounted machines for removal and demolition of at least one layer of floor covering on a floor. The types of floor coverings that the present machine will remove include, but are not limited to, carpet, vinyl tile, ceramic tile, wood, stone, and other floor coverings that are generally found in residential and commercial buildings.
Floor coverings are often removed in buildings that are being renovated or improved. Removal of floor coverings is usually a difficult and arduous task because the floor coverings are affixed to floors such that they will remain permanently. However in order to install a new floor covering, the prior floor covering usually must be removed. Removing a floor covering by hand is not a viable option because of the difficulty of the task and the amount of areas needed to be covered. Therefore, new improved methods of removing floor covering using operator mounted machines have been invented in which the machine is mounted by an operator who sits atop the machine and controls it during use. The operator mounted type of machine is advantageous in that it is generally safer and more efficient than other known floor covering removal machines.
Contractors often price floor covering removal jobs based upon the amount of time and labor expected to complete the work required. The floor covering removal apparatus of the prior art operator mounted machines utilize a front weight bearing wheel and hydraulically operated scraping blades that lengthen the apparatus. For example, an operator mounted apparatus for removing a surface layer from a floor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,206, issued May 24, 1997 to David B. Craft. The Craft patent related to an apparatus that includes a front weight bearing wheel means, front and rear weight plates, and a hydraulic means for pivoting a support plate and scraping blade. The length of a floor removal apparatus is further increased by the addition of weight plates to the front of the apparatus as taught by the Craft patent. The greater length of a machine like those being discussed increases the area needed for maneuvering the machine, and an increased maneuvering area causes the machines to miss a greater amount of floor area during the floor covering removal process, thus leading to costly inefficiencies of time and labor.
A further problem exists during the removal process when the scraping blade does not remain flush against the floor causing the scraping blade not to penetrate and remove the floor covering. The present inventor has found that a primary cause of the scraping blade jumping or slipping out of operating position is that floor covering debris often builds up in the path of a rear drive wheel of the machine. The buildup causes the rear wheel that rolls over the buildup to be raised with respect to the other rear wheel. The raised rear wheel changes the plane of the scraping blade, and the blade does not remain flush with the floor causing the blade to jump or slip when stripping floor covering. Prior art devices like that in the Craft patent do not address means for keeping the scraping blade flush with the floor surface when such debris builds up.
A similar problem is addressed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,284 to Lindsey et al., issued Jun. 30, 1998. The Lindsey patent relates to the use of a blade that is mounted to a bearing that changes the roll and pitch of the blade with respect to the floor. However, floor surfaces are generally flat, and it is important that any imperfections in floor surface coverings be removed. The blade in the Lindsey device adjusts to surface contours, adhesive deposits, and similar surface imperfections and may not cut through these imperfections in the floors surface covering.
Thus, while compact operator mounted machines are known for removing floor coverings, these known devices do not solve the problems discussed above.
Prior art apparatuses for removing floor covering do not eliminate the problems with scraping blade efficiency in the removal of floor coverings. When using known machines having scraping blades in fixed horizontal positions, the blades are caused to jump or slip by imperfections and by debris buildup beneath the rear wheels of an apparatus for removing floor covering. A solution to the problem of floor imperfections that teaches a rolling blade creates additional inefficiencies in that the blade may adjust to floor imperfections and contours rather than remove those imperfections. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide an compact and maneuverable floor surface removal apparatus that would eliminate the problems with blade slippage caused by debris buildup beneath the rear wheels of the apparatus during operation.